It may seem like a real challenge to pull the fireworks out of the image below. Certainly, using the magic wand, magic eraser and pen tool is not going to produce very good results. Here, I’m going to show you a very simple technique for isolating the fireworks in this image using the channels palette. This technique doesn’t always work this smoothly for every image, but it can be used in combination with other methods for making more complex selections, which will be covered in future posts.

So, what do you do next? Open up the channels palette. Take a good look at the image and determine which color channel best represents the area we want to capture. As you can see, it’s obvious that the red channel contains the most information for capturing the fireworks. (since the fireworks are mostly in red). Image 1.

Image 1

Now, in Image 2, you will see that I’ve selected the Red channel. Do that.

Image 2

Next, drag the red channel down to the new channel button as shown in Image 3.

Image 3

You will now see a new channel named ‘Red Copy’ as shown in Image 4 belowImage 4

Now, go under ‘Select‘ and choose ‘Load Selection‘. Image 5Image 5

A ‘Load Selection’ box will appear, select ‘Red Copy’ under channel, and tick the invert box as shown in image 6Image 6

What you will see next is as per Image 7 below once you’ve clicked ‘ok’.

Now, click back on the RGB channel to load the full colors of the image. Image 8

Next, go under ‘Select‘ and choose ‘Inverse‘ as shown in image 9.Image 9

Now, open up the new background on which you want your selected fireworks placed. Here, I’ve chosen a dark blue sky background.

Finally, all you got to do is to drag the fireworks from the original image onto the new background. Voila! You’re done!